Posted on 10/30/2025 10:58:29 AM PDT by Red Badger
Missing a boarding time for a cruise ship could end up fatal.
An 80-year-old Australian woman was discovered dead on a remote island after she was left behind by the cruise ship she was traveling on.
The woman was hiking on Lizard Island with a group of other passengers, but was separated from the group after she decided to take some time to rest.
The Coral Adventurer cruise ship ended up leaving the woman on the island, but returned several hours later to find her after she was discovered not to be on board.
On Sunday, she was discovered dead.
Per BBC:
An 80-year-old Australian woman has been found dead on a Great Barrier Reef island after being left behind by the cruise ship she was travelling on.
The woman had been hiking on Lizard Island, 250km (155 miles) north of Cairns, with fellow passengers from the Coral Adventurer cruise ship on Saturday but is believed to have broken off from the group to have a rest.
The ship left the island around sunset but returned several hours later after the crew realised the woman was missing. A major search operation found her body on Sunday morning. No details have been released.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said it was investigating and would meet the ship’s crew later this week. It is understood the woman, who has not been named, was on the first stop of a 60-day cruise around Australia, with tickets costing in the tens of thousands of dollars for the journey.
The woman has since been identified as Suzanne Rees.
Suzanne’s daughter Katherine Rees revealed the day her mother was hiking was very hot and her mother rested after unfeeling during the hike.
Katherine Rees, in a statement to the press, stated the cruise ship’s “failure of care and common sense” led to her mother’s death.
She added, “She was asked to head down, unescorted. Then the ship left, apparently without doing a passenger count. At some stage in that sequence, or shortly after, Mom died, alone.”
Cruising expert Adrian Tassone shared that cruise ships usually know who is on and off board. The case of Rees being unaccounted for appears to be a tragic blunder.
An answer of great significance!
....her mother rested after unfeeling during the hike.
~~~~~
What? Proofreading is just so hard....
Aussieism.................
I have been on 3 cruises. Not with this line. Each passenger is issued a stateroom card key, which is also to be used to log off and onto the ship. Makes it a lot simpler to keep tabs on who is onboard.
I am thinking leashes for the elderly so they do not do a Bidet and wander off.
You may have the best take on this.
To the extent that it is any comfort, she may have found the best way to go - alone with nature and her God.
The rest of us should be so lucky.
Partially correct. People do miss departures, and this is a tourist island with hotels with restaurants where a passenger could overstay a meal or shopping.
However it is the tour providers responsibility. They do keep track of the number of tourists. If one was missing they should have known when boarding the return transportation and mentioned they were missing a passenger. Not that unusual, but had the cruise line known that, particularly when discovering her age, at the very least the line could have notified their port agent and/or local authorities. From the little information provided this might not have saved her life. And she should have told the guide she was stopping, no way of knowing if they did, in which case they likely would have gone back to find her. All kinds of disclaimers in the cruise contract and the tour disclosures, but the cruise line has the deep pockets in this instance.
Sorry for the daughter losing her mom but daughter is wrong. Her mom lacked common sense to be (at 80) hiking unknown trail in hot humid weather and NOT accompanied by a person (like her daughter, maybe) who would not have left her alone to rest. The mom wasn’t wise. The other people hiking with her were not either, or were uncaring. The cruise ship is at fault for sailing without her, but I didn’t read was the mom found at soy of rest? At spot where ship had docked? What did mom die of in just hours after stopping to rest? Was she dead before ship sailed?
Should have noted other articles indicate she tired and headed back on the trail herself. Whether she told anyone, we’ll never know.
Sit right down and you’ll hear a tale ...
And it is not only the elderly that get left. This has happened before on other cruises.
A wrist tracker would have saved her life and saved them the time and money they had to expend turning around and coming back for her.
Just seems logical.
You would not do it at city stops just at scenic stops where there are no easily accessed accommodations.
She may have done it on purpose. Sweat the daughter
suicide?
No matter how cynical you get, it's never enough.
Right - “unfeeling”???
Well, she died doing what she loved.
Don’t cruise ships do some kind of head count?“
They most certainly do. They scan your card when you leave and when you return. It is a big deal if the count is off. At least on any cruise l have been on.
I have been a backpacker and always had a buddy. You just don’t walk off and leave anyone having any distress alone on a trail. It usually will NOT end up good and to leave an older woman in distress is just criminal, in my opinion.
Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale....
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